Cambodia’s Ka wins second ITF singles title
CAMBODIA’S Andrea Ka won her second major singles title of the year by taking the $10,000 ITF Women’s Pro Circuit event in Hua Hin, Thailand, on Saturday.
The 24-year-old France-born Cambodian right-hander produced a stunningly bold thirdset tie-break following a love set after being swept away in the first set by top seed Chieu Yu Hsu of Chinese Taipei.
Now enjoying a career-high ranking of 705, Ka wrapped up the nearly two-hour contest 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 against a rival ranked 423rd.
In a final where no quarter was sought or given, Hsu stayed strong on crucial points to win the first set, only to feel the full force of a Ka comeback in which she won six games in a row. The two shared the next dozen games before Ka took the tie-break
This was Ka’s second ITF singles title following her historymaking victory to become the first Cambodian, male or female, to win a major international tennis title at Amarante in Portugal in July.
“I am very happy to win this tough final. I am keen on ending one of my best years as a professional on a high and look forward to a ranking below 500 going into the new year,” Ka said after her triumph.
On the way to the final, Ka s wept pa st second seeded Bu ny aw i T ha mcha iwat of Thailand 7-6, 6-1 af ter beating f ift h seeded So Ra Lee of Sout h Korea 6-4, 6-3 i n t he quarterf inals.
Ka came through a long, drawn-out three-setter to down Arina Foltz of Uzbekistan 6-4,6-7,6-3 in the second round.
During 2016, Ka also added three more doubles titles to her collection.
In seven of her singles matches she beat players ranked in the top 1,000, and five of her losses out of 11 came against players ranked below 500.